Antonio Scarpa
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
anatomist and professor.
Biography
Antonio was born to an impoverished family in the frazioneFrazione
A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...
of Lorenzaga, Motta di Livenza, Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
. An uncle, who was a member of the priesthood, gave him instruction until the age of 15, when he passed the entrance exam for the University of Padua
University of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
. He was a pupil of Giovanni Battista Morgagni
Giovanni Battista Morgagni
Giovanni Battista Morgagni was an Italian anatomist, celebrated as the father of modern anatomical pathology.-Education:...
and Marc Antonio Caldani
Leopoldo Marco Antonio Caldani
Leopoldo Marco Antonio Caldani was an Italian anatomist and physiologist.Caldani was born in Bologna, Italy. He studied medicine in Bologna, receiving his degree in 1750, and became a professor of practical medicine in 1755...
. Under the former, he became doctor of medicine on May 19, 1770; in 1772 he became professor at the University of Modena.
For a time he chose to travel, visiting Holland, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. When he returned to Italy, he was made professor of anatomy at the University of Pavia
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and is organized in 9 Faculties.-History:...
in 1783, on the strong recommendation of Emperor Joseph II. He remained in that post until 1804 when he stepped down to allow his student, Santo Fattori, to assume the chair.
In May 1791 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on account of being the "Author of some ingenious observations on the Ganglions of the Nerves, on the structure of the organs of hearing and smell, and other subjects of anatomy and Physiology"
In 1805, Napoleon was made King of Italy
King of Italy
King of Italy is a title adopted by many rulers of the Italian peninsula after the fall of the Roman Empire...
. He chose to visit the University of Pavia upon which he inquired as to the whereabouts of Dr. Scarpa. He was informed that the doctor had been dismissed because of his political opinions and his refusal to take oaths. Whereupon Dr. Scarpa was restored to his position as the chair. In 1821, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
.
During his lifetime he became a rich man, acquiring a collection of valuable paintings and living a wealthy lifestyle. He was a confirmed bachelor, and fathered several sons out of wedlock (whom he favored through nepotism). In his career he earned a reputation for ruthlessness, destroying his enemies and taxing his favorites to their limits. Toward the end of his life, Antonio Scarpa suffered from a stone
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
in his urinary system
Urinary system
The urinary system is the organ system that produces, stores, and eliminates urine. In humans it includes two kidneys, two ureters, the bladder and the urethra.-Kidney:...
. This caused an inflammation of his bladder
Bladder
Bladder usually refers to an anatomical hollow organBladder may also refer to:-Biology:* Urinary bladder in humans** Urinary bladder ** Bladder control; see Urinary incontinence** Artificial urinary bladder, in humans...
, which resulted in his death. He died in Pavia
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
, October 31, 1832. After his death his reputation was bitterly attacked, and even marble stones erected in his memory were defaced.
After his death, his assistant Carlo Beolchin performed an autopsy which was documented in a extremely detailed report. As an incredible and questionable act of homage to the great scientist, the head of the anatomist was removed and exhibited in the Institute of Anatomy. The head is still exhibited at the Museo per la storia dell'Università di Pavia.
Works
Dr. Scarpa published a number of medical treatises that were widely respected.- De structura fenestrae rotundae auris et de tympano secundario, anatomicae observationes, his first published work, focused on the structure of the inner ear. It was printed in 1772, shortly after he joined the University of Modena.
- In 1789 he published Anatomicæ disquisitiones de auditu et olfactu, a study of the hearing and olfactory organs, which was soon considered a classical treatise on the subject.
- He published Tabulae neurologicae in 1794, which was the first work to give an accurate depiction of the Heart's nerves and to show cardiac innervation. It is considered to be his finest work. Apparently Dr. Scarpa locked the engraver in his room until the illustrations were finished. This work included his discovery that the inner ear was filled with fluid. (This was later named Scarpa's fluid, and subsequently endolymphEndolymphEndolymph is the fluid contained in the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear. It is also called Scarpa's fluid, after Antonio Scarpa.-Composition:...
.)
- Commentarius de Penitiori Ossium Structura, 1799, described the cellular structure of bone, along with notes on growth and diseases of bone.
- His 1801 work, Saggio di osservazioni e d’esperienze sulle principali malattie degli occhi (A Treatise on the Principal Diseases of the Eyes) described and illustrated the major eye diseases. It was the first ophthalmology text published in Italian, but was subsequently published in several languages and earned him the title of "father of Italian ophthalmology".
- Riflessioni ed Osservazione anatomico-chirugiche sull' Aneurisma, 1804, is a classical work on Aneurysms.
- Sull'ernie memorie anatomico-chirurgiche in 1809 was a treatise on the hernia. The supplement work, Sull'ernie del perineo the first ever discussion of the perineal hernia. Traité pratique des hernie, ou, Mémoires anatomiques et chirurgicaux sur ces maladies in 1812, was an authoritative work on the herniaHerniaA hernia is the protrusion of an organ or the fascia of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it. A hiatal hernia occurs when the stomach protrudes into the mediastinum through the esophageal opening in the diaphragm....
. Both Scarpa's fasciaFascia of ScarpaThe deep layer is a layer of the anterior abdominal wall. It is found deep to the Camper Fascia and superficial to the External Oblique muscle.-Anatomy:...
and Scarpa's triangleFemoral triangleThe femoral triangle is an anatomical region of the upper inner human thigh.-Boundaries:It is bounded by:* the inguinal ligament* the medial border of the adductor longus muscle...
were derived from these works.
Eponyms
- Scarpa's fascia
- Scarpa's fluid
- Scarpa's foraminaForamina of ScarpaIn the maxilla, occasionally two additional canals are present in the middle line of the palatine process; they are termed the foramina of Scarpa, and when present transmit the nasopalatine nerves, the left passing through the anterior, and the right through the posterior canal....
- Scarpa's ganglionScarpa's ganglionThe vestibular nerve ganglion is the ganglion of the vestibular nerve. It contains the cell bodies of the bipolar primary afferent neurons whose peripheral processes form synaptic contact with hair cells of the vestibular sensory end organs.It is named for Antonio Scarpa.At birth, it is already...
- Scarpa's hiatus
- Scarpa's membrane
- Scarpa's sheath
- Scarpa's shoe
- Scarpa's staphyloma
- Scarpa's triangleFemoral triangleThe femoral triangle is an anatomical region of the upper inner human thigh.-Boundaries:It is bounded by:* the inguinal ligament* the medial border of the adductor longus muscle...